program spending

2:00PM
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It’s budget season in Edmonton but Premier Prentice has already announced a five per cent across-the-board reduction in program spending to help deal with an expected $7 billion-plus deficit.

12:00PM
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It’s budget season again, with provincial governments across Canada delivering their annual budgets amid a backdrop of falling commodity prices and provincial deficits. And once again, a mythology surrounding education spending will likely influence spending choices from coast to coast.


10:30AM
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The severity of Alberta’s fiscal problems hit home with many Albertans this week as Premier Prentice announced that the upcoming provincial budget will include an across-the-board five per cent spending cut.


9:00AM
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Ontario’s provincial government wants a balanced budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, and Finance Minister Charles Sousa is adamant that Ontario will reach that goal.


9:30AM
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Many Ontarians have likely heard a horror story or two about their government’s growing debt and the resulting strain on public finances. You can’t blame them. Sources of evidence abound.


4:00PM
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Ontario’s provincial government wants a balanced budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, and Finance Minister Charles Sousa is adamant that Ontario will reach that goal.


9:00AM
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Alberta Premier Jim Prentice has warned Albertans that the current fiscal year’s projected surplus has turned into at least a $500 million deficit and that next year’s budget will sink deeper into red-ink territory.


1:59PM
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As Alberta’s provincial and municipal governments grapple with declining oil revenues and a weakening economy, a sober review of government spending should be part of any belt-tightening initiative. One place to start is the compensation of government employees, a key spending item for all governments.


9:00AM
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How governments manage their finances matters a great deal. Spend and borrow too much and the result is a spiral of increasing deficits that create ever higher debt. Then, ever-more tax dollars end up spent on debt interest—not on education, health care, administering provincial courts, or other areas in which provincial governments are involved.